The Rani Elite

The Rani Elite

Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Siobhan Redmond (The Rani), Becky Wright (Lizzo), Andrew Bone (Vice Chancellor), Mike Noble (Miklev), Charlie Morton (Reev)

The TARDIS arrives in the CAGE – not a trap, but the College of Advanced Galactic Education, one of the most prestigious academic institutions in colonised space.

Not a trap. Or is it?

The Doctor’s here to receive an honorary degree in Moral Philosophy. But there’s something rotten at the heart of the Medical Facility. Someone is operating on the students. Someone without a conscience. Someone with access to a Sidelian Brain Scanner – a technology that hasn’t been invented yet.

That someone is the ruthless Time Lord scientist known as The Rani – in her new incarnation. But will The Doctor and Peri recognise The Rani’s hand before her trap is sprung?

coming soon

• After the sad passing of Kate O Mara the fate of the story was uncertain, until Kate’s agent contact Big Finish with the news that Kate had wanted them to proceed with a new incarnation of the character.
  
• In her latest body The Rani is played by Siobhan Redmond, whose many leading television credited include Between the Lines, The High Life, The Smoking Room, Taggart and Holby City.
  
• The Rani was expecting to meet The Doctor’s seventh incarnation, not the sixth. She describes the Seventh Doctor as “the little fellow with the hat and the umbrella”.
  
• The Doctor mentions the Deca, including Drax, Mortimus and Vansell, and calls The Ranin “Ushas “.
  
• Peri is awarded an honourary degree in botany.
  
• The Rani says The Doctor only graduated the Academy with a double gamma.
  
• The Doctor says education used to be galactically funded, but it is now down to students to “scrimp and save.”
  
• The Rani discusses chaos theory.
  
• Part 1 of the Rani Elite was available as a free download before the release.
  
• This is the first appearance of the Rani in an audio story by Big Finish. Heroverall first audio appearance was in the BBV Productions story The Rani Reaps the Whirlwind.
  
• During her photoshoot as The Rani, Siobhan Redmond was brandishing a potato peeler as a hand prop. The device was enhanced in Photoshop to create the final illustration used on the cover of this story.
  
• Subscribers whose subscriptions included this story also received the audio short story A Home From Home.
  
• Many elements of this story were apparently inspired by the cancelled Rani story: Network.
  
• Peri remembers the Fifth Doctor dying for her (The Caves of Androzani) and wonders if she would die for him. (Mindwarp)
  
• The Sixth Doctor and Peri previously encountered The Rani in Killingworth in the 1820s (The Mark of the Rani), on a duplicate Earth (State of Change) and on Koturia (Something Borrowed).
  
• The Doctor says, “Leave the girl. Plainly, it’s me you want.” (Time and the Rani)
  
• The Rani and the Doctor mention the Deca, including Drax, Mortimus and Vansell. The Rani is also called Ushas by The Doctor. (Divided Loyalties)
  
• The Doctor notes that Time Lords are “immortal, barring accidents.” (The War Games)
  
• The Rani recalls her previous incarnation being partly responsible for The Doctor’s sixth regeneration. Time and the Rani, The Brink of Death)
  
• After her arrest, The Rani was imprisoned for 97 years. (Planet of the Rani)